By Mohammed Rasheed in Baghdad

It's Ramadan, when most Muslims fast from sunup until sundown, so I decided to drive home during the period just after sundown when I knew people would be inside eating and traffic would be light.

But when I arrived in my neighborhood, there was a huge traffic jam. I thought it was a security checkpoint stopping cars, so I relaxed and began listening to music in the car. After a while, though, none of the cars moved. I got out to see what was wrong.

About six cars ahead of me, I saw a red sedan. A few people were standing around the car, looking panicked. I began to worry, thinking the car must be a bomb ready to explode. I began to approach, thinking I might have to just abandon my own car in the traffic jam and run away from whatever threat the sedan posed. There were men in dishdashas, boys and other people, all peering beneath the car.

The coalition of the willing has become the coalition of the dwindling in Iraq, where non-U.S. forces now number about 7,000 compared with the 146,000 American troops here. More than half the non-U.S. troops are British, with Poland, Romania and South Korea being the other main providers to a multinational force that at its height numbered 49 countries and more than 200,000 troops.

As their numbers decline, U.S. officials are portraying the trend as a sign of success in Iraq, where security is better and Iraqi security forces are increasing in number. But the dwindling numbers also are a reflection of unrest elsewhere, and of the unpopularity of the war in countries that have made deep cuts in troop levels here or pulled out altogether. They include Italy, Spain, Australia and Britain, which had planned to drop to about 2,500 troops earlier this year until fighting in the southern city of Basra (which had been British forces' area of responsibility) erupted last spring. Now Britain has about 4,000 troops.

More than a dozen police chiefs from major American cities are on a professional visit to Israel. The weeklong learning program is intended to introduce the U.S. law enforcement officers to their Israeli counterparts and demonstrate techniques in security, counterterrorism and emergency response.

Abe Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, which organized this latest mission in its series of counterterrorism seminars, says that "the lesson of 9/11 is that we can never let down our guard, and that police and others in the law enforcement community must have the tools of the trade and the knowledge of what strategies are available out there to help deter the threat of terrorism."

During their stay, which overlapped with the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the visiting officers observed diverse techniques used in Israel to safeguard its citizens' security, including surveillance of public spaces and security procedures at the country's borders.

— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

Photos: Visiting police chiefs observe and discuss a training exercise with an Israeli police counterterrorism SWAT team in Holon, Israel. Credit: Anti-Defamation League

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Iran and Israel are at it again. After a few weeks of calm that saw oil prices drop and concern cool about a third hot war breaking out in the Middle East, tensions are building again.

The latest brouhaha began with a comment by an Israeli minister that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could be the target of a kidnapping by the Mossad. This new row between Iran and Israel brought back to the forefront the issue of the Islamic Republic's alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, Rafi Eitan, a minister in the Israeli Cabinet and an ex-Mossad agent who was once in charge of hunting down and kidnapping former Nazi war criminals, said:

It could very well be that a leader such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suddenly finds himself before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

When the interviewer asked Eitan whether he meant that "seriously," he answered: "Absolutely. Those who spread poison and want to eradicate another people has to expect such consequences."

The Iranians took the declarations as threats. They complained by addressing a letter Tuesday to the United Nations secretary-general:

These dangerous threats ... not only constitute manifest violations of international law and contravene the most fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, but are against the basic values of the civilized world.

In all likelihood, both sides are posturing ahead of the opening of the U.N. General Assembly session in about 10 days. That's when world powers will begin discussing a fourth round of sanctions on Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium, a key process in the development of an atomic bomb as well as a peaceful civilian energy program.

The army band fell silent. The tuba and trombone players clasped their huge instruments and bent their heads in silent tribute, as did hundreds of other troops and civilians from various countries inside the cool confines of Saddam Hussein's Al Faw palace. For once, the opulent rotunda -- normally a buzz of activity -- was quiet as people gathered to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in a ceremony both touching and jarring.

If anyone can steal a show at such an event, the show-stealer was Army Col. John A. Lenk, who was in the Pentagon when it was hit by one of the jets. "To this day, I can't think about Sept. 11 without smelling the smoke and fumes of jet fuel," said Lenk, who choked back tears throughout his speech. Lenk, whose skull bears a deep and jagged scar, suffered head injuries when a chunk of ceiling broke loose and landed on him.

Ramadan in the Muslim world is not only a month for fasting and praying, it is also the coolest time of the year for watching Arab television. Every evening, millions of viewers in the Arab world follow dozens of drama series produced mostly in Egypt and Syria especially for this month. 

But not all the series are well seen by this region’s authorities, who are sometimes hamfisted when it comes to art or literature. Some of the series have been banned in a number of countries.

On Monday, for instance, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates gave orders to a local channel to stop airing a series based on the life of a historical tribal leader and poet who apparently belonged to the same tribe as the Saudi royal family.

According to local media, the reason behind the ban is that several Arab tribes objected to the series’ portrayal of their history. The series, "Saadoun Al-Awaji," which was aired on Abu Dhabi TV, portrays conflicts between Bedouin tribes in the north of the Arab Peninsula in the 18th century.

In his Sept. 11 memorial message to his troops, Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the top Marine in Iraq, remembers the "acts of unimaginable terror [done] by the most hateful men on earth" that day.

"They hate the way we treat each other, these men, the way we respect each other's differences, worship the God of our choice, love our family and friends, see goodness and dignity in every person, and worth in every life."

Kelly ends by praising the men and women of the U.S. military who are dedicated to fighting "men who must be killed and an ideology that must be destroyed."

Iraq’s parliament formed a committee today to strike a compromise on a provincial elections law that has been languishing since late July. The factions chose a six-man panel to resolve the festering dispute that threatens to delay the vote until next year.

Provincial elections have been touted as a pivotal step to promoting national reconciliation by giving a voice to Iraq’s Sunni population and loyalists to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr’s movement, who skipped the last such vote in 2005.

The election legislation has been delayed by a rift among Kurdish and Arab lawmakers over the status of the oil-rich northern region of Kirkuk.  Arabs have wanted to delay a vote in the province, while the Kurds have insisted Kirkuk's status should be resolved now. The dispute prevented the parliament members from passing the electoral law before the lawmakers adjourned in August for a summer break.

At the same time, lawmakers have said they believe the main political parties are using Kirkuk as an excuse not to hold an election that they are afraid could cost them seats in provincial government.

Some political leaders ignored phone calls during the summer parliament session from President George W. Bush, pleading for the sides to strike a compromise. Till now, it is a question mark if the new panel, headed by parliament speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani, means business or aims to just delay the matter of elections further.

— Raheem Salman and Ned Parker in Baghdad

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In a bid to save Israel's trees from increasing construction, a bill is underway to force contractors to plant a tree for every one they cut down. Contractors will be obliged to include in their development plans detailed information about the number and type of trees in the area designation for construction, as well as committing to plans for planting news ones, as a condition for receiving building permits. Trees will be cut down only where preservation or relocation are not possible.

The law, put forth by member of knesset Ophir Pines, is aimed at addressing both global warming issues as well as local urban aesthetics. "It is important to maintain a balance between the welcome development in Israel and preserving natural and environmental values, so that we don't wake up one morning and find ourselves surrounded only by blocks of concrete," he said after the bill passed a preliminary reading in the legislature this week.

The ministry of agriculture is also trying to increase enforcement, refreshing procedures and pushing to increase the fines for illegal felling, currently 1,000 NIS (about $278).

Most of Israel's trees -- 68 species including oak, olive, eucalyptus, cherub, palm, and kasuarina -- are protected by the Forestry Act and law. Cutting down trees in Israel requires a permit from the JNF (Jewish national fund), the custodian of the nation's forests, except in the three largest cities where municipal authorities have specially designated officials authorized review requests. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 4,000 requests are filed every year by private and public bodies; 1,200 of these ask to cut down protected trees. The JNF approves the majority.

To vent their rage at a state that they say is failing them, residents of the Douaiqa slum, recently devastated by the slide of massive boulders, clashed with the police over allegations that the government may stop rescue efforts for scores of missing people, according to a news report in El-Masry El-Youm.

The independent daily reported that the Douaiqa residents threw stones Tuesday at the police, accusing authorities of not moving quickly enough to recover bodies.

Meanwhile, the state news agency announced that the death toll rose to 61. Hundreds of victims are believed to still be trapped under the boulders; however, there is little hope of finding survivors.

The sex-on-the-beach trial in the United Arab Emirates has been adjourned for another month. The British couple accused of indecency and having unmarried sex along the coast in Dubai was delayed when the police officer in the case did not appear in court earlier this week.

The saga of Vince Acors and Michelle Palmer, two Brits who left a champagne brunch and allegedly ended up in a compromising position could face years in prison. Authorities say Palmer was discovered sitting on Acors with her shirt off. The couple claims they were kissing and hugging, and that medical reports will show they did not have sex.

The National newspaper in the UAE reported that Palmer, who was fired from her job in the publishing industry over the incident, had been hospitalized in recent days for stress. The newspaper quoted Palmer as saying in a blog entry: "Please imagine if it were you. This is punishment enough."

The case has become a sensation beyond the blowing sands and Oz-like skyscrapers coiling through the desert air of Dubai.

With at least 26 executions in the past three years, Iran remains by far the leader of five countries still carrying executions for crimes committed by juveniles, a human rights organization said in a report released today.

The other countries are also part of the Muslim world: Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan and Yemen. The organization slammed juvenile death penalty as a “barbaric practice” and urged governments attending next week’s United Nations General Assembly to adopt reforms that protect the rights of children facing trials.

Clarisa Bencomo, a researcher for HRW on children’s rights, sounded the alarm:

We are only five states away from a complete ban on the juvenile death penalty. … These few holdouts should abandon this barbaric practice so that no one ever again is executed for a crime committed as a child. … Even states that still execute juvenile offenders acknowledge that such executions are wrong. But changes in law and practice need to be faster.

According to the New-York-based Human Rights Watch, over 100 offenders who were under 18 when they allegedly committed crimes remain on death row around the world.

She isn't your standard beauty queen. With five eyes and six legs, she isn't going to bring world peace or save the whales, but the winner of the annual bee beauty pageant held at the Israeli boutique honey farm Dvorat Ha'Tavor is sweet. Her name's #7 and it might just be her honey that Jews in Israel and abroad will be eating with apples on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, in a few weeks, in keeping with the holiday tradition to promise a sweet year ahead. 

Driving by fields or just walking through orchards and groves throughout the country, you can see the unassuming white cabinet-like stacks that are among some 90,000 hives kept by Israeli beekeepers. This means honey, and also money.

Many of the country's honey farms are open to the public, offering educational programs and family activities, and the honey harvesting season happily coincides with the summer vacation and high holidays, which makes seasonal honey festivals a popular attraction. The industry is constantly reinventing itself, developing new flavors and even colors. Honey gift baskets are a common holiday present among Israelis, who consume 3,600 tons of honey a year.

Allawi Atshan says he was minding his own business at home in a village in Anbar province when the attack began. But rather than insurgents wielding guns or setting off bombs, the predators who terrorized Atshan and his neighbors had long claws, made quick movements, and wore collars.

Locals are calling them "sheebs" and describe them as part wolf, part dog, and entirely vicious. The latest alleged sheeb attack occurred Saturday night near Karmah, a town north of Fallouja. By some accounts, the collars supposedly worn by the animals prove they are under command and control of American forces. The military, which uses dogs similar to the one pictured to supplement human soldiers in tracking down insurgents and searching for bombs, denies knowing about these sheeb or having anything to do with them.

But Anbar has a frightening history and only in the past year has it emerged from the nightmare of life under the grip of Al Qaeda in Iraq, which used everything from crudely made chemical weapons to beheading to terrorize the population. Fear and suspicion run deep here, even though Anbar now is one of Iraq's calmer provinces.

A hospital worker in Karmah said five people were admitted after the Saturday night attack. Four were transferred to Baghdad hospitals for more treatment. The fifth, Atshan, says he lost part of his face when he was mauled.

"The doctors told me I need plastic surgery for my face," Atshan said after the attack. Atshan said a pack of the animals jumped on him and then tried to snatch a young child during a 2 a.m. attack. They were scared off when neighbors began shooting at them, he said.

The sheebs also were blamed for attacks north of Fallouja in August.

This isn't the first time Iraqis have been plagued by predatory animals, or blamed foreign troops on Iraqi soil for the problem. In the summer of 2007, rumors spread through the southern city of Basra that giant predatory badgers were the work of British forces using them to terrify the population. The animals turned out to be honey badgers, which are indeed aggressive and can weigh up to 30 pounds. The badgers' increased numbers were attributed to efforts under way at the time to reflood marshlands in the region that had been drained under Saddam Hussein's regime. 

Earlier this year, residents of villages surrounding Samawah, a city about 170 miles south of Baghdad, were plagued by packs of gray wolves devouring livestock and not scared off even by gunfire. The problem got so bad that the Samawah city council formed armed posses to drive them away.

While the military says it knows nothing about the latest strange animals said to be skulking about Anbar, its initial response indicated concern that such tales are being spread. Rather than replying to an e-mailed query seeking comment on the claims, the public affairs chief in Anbar asked for the name of the Iraqi reporter who was the source of the story. Later, another public affairs officer repeated the request for the reporter's name without addressing the question at hand. But more than 12 hours later,  the response came through in an e-mailed: "We are not familiar with any so-called sheeb."

-- From Times staff writers

Photo: No, it's not a sheeb. It's a military working dog named Iron exercising on a training range outside Baghdad. Credit: Tina Susman.

If you’re with your partner on a Dubai beach, don’t be lured by the city’s apparent social permissiveness. You’d better think twice before engaging in an affectionate embrace. 

Media in the Persian Gulf’s tourism and business hub have reported several stories of couples arrested for displaying “inappropriate” behavior on the beach.

Last week, a British couple was charged with having sex on a public beach in Dubai. Each could face up to six years in prison in a case scheduled to be addressed by a court this week.

Another of the latest reports, picked up by the blog Menassat, involved an apparent lesbian couple. Two women vacationing in the United Arab Emirates have been recently sentenced to one month in jail for "indecent acts" on a public beach in Dubai.

The women -- a 30-year-old Lebanese and a 36-year-old Bulgarian -- have been charged with kissing and fondling each other and will be deported after serving a jail sentence. They both pleaded not guilty.

A television documentary set for broadcast Wednesday on the Military Channel explores the role of an Army chaplain in helping soldiers endure the danger and dreariness of a 15-month deployment in one of the more dangerous parts of Iraq.

"God's Soldier" covers three months in the life of Capt. Charles Popov, chaplain for the 2nd battalion, 27th infantry regiment, the Wolfhounds. Popov, 49, a Baptist, does his best to keep the troops' morale from sagging during the deployment as the unit suffers 18 killed and 300 wounded.

One topic is ever-present: how can a chaplain justify war with the biblical admonition against killing? Popov tries to distinguish between killing and murder, and notes that the Bible, in several places, condones violence against the wicked.

"There is a justice that has to be served," Popov tells his flock. "God is a god of mercy, and God is also a god of justice."

It is a close-up, intimate look. The camera is present during moments of confession and trauma. Five soldiers in the unit are killed by a roadside bomb; an interpreter is killed by a sniper; soldiers are frustrated when the brass orders them to stop daylight patrols, lest they draw sniper fire.

A soldier admits to Popov that he doesn't know if he can kill. Another says he does nothing but argue with his wife during phone calls home. When news comes that the unit's stay will be extended, morale plummets.

Throughout it all, Popov is patient and cheerful, at least in his public face. Privately, the stress takes a toll. He admits he does not have all the answers, particularly to the eternal question: Why does God permit evil in the world?

"That is a struggle that I think people of faith contend with," Popov says.

Without chaplains, Popov insists, troops can lose their moral compass. "Everyone asks: Where was the chaplain at Abu Ghraib?"

"God's Soldier" covers months in late 2006 and early 2007 at a small outpost near Tikrit, a world away from the comforts of the large U.S. bases. The soldiers are suspicious of the Iraqi security forces living with them. A Christmas pageant arranged by Popov is marred when Iraqis set to play wise men and shepherds are arrested on various crimes.

Popov tells his video camera that he has trouble sleeping. The faces of the dead soldiers keep appearing in his dreams. Still, he wouldn't want to be anywhere else. His respect for the young soldiers never wavers.

"I'd rather be here than in the best church in the U.S.," he says. "It makes me feel very humble to be their chaplain, almost unworthy."

--Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Capt. Charles Popov addresses troops. Credit: Military Channel.

The rockslide that killed at least 38 people in one of Cairo's largest shantytowns on Saturday has elicited a new wave of public outrage over the failure of the state not only to deal with emergencies, but also to contain poverty.

The residents of the Douaiqa slum woke up to the fall of massive boulders on about 35 of their houses Saturday. Hundreds of bodies are believed to be still missing.   

Today’s editorial of al-Wafd, an opposition newspaper, read: “How were the victims allowed to live in this dangerous place? How were they left there after the first rockslide that happened in 1994 despite all technical reports that expected further rockslides? Where was the state when these people first arrived in this area? Where has the state been for the last 14 years since the first rockslide happened?”

The incident was perceived by some observers as another example of the state's inability to close the widening gap between rich and poor. “The people know quite well that the regime dedicates all its efforts to serve the rich and when it is forced to deal with the poor, it just gives them [minor donations] instead of elaborating a policy to eliminate poverty and prevent the construction of slums in dangerous areas,” wrote Mohamed Sayed Said, editor of al-Badeel, an independent daily.

“The fundamental solution to such problems lies in putting an end to this catastrophic government and instating a regime that fights poverty rather than the poor,” Said wrote. 

The rockslide came days after the case of the real estate mogul Hisham Talaat Mostafa, who was charged in the slaying of a Lebanese singer. The press seized the opportunity to criticize real estate tycoons who were given many state incentives to build extravagant residential compounds while leaving the poor in shantytowns with little water and sewage services.

“In his current ordeal, [Mostafa] can feel for the poor of this country which gave him everything from wealth to power. He inquired thousands of feddans [land units] at very low prices to build projects that brought hundreds of millions into his pockets. Like the majority of businessmen who do not resemble the people of this blessed land, he never thought about this duty towards a society plagued by poverty,” wrote Waheed Abdel Meguid in al-Wafd.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Women in pious Islamic countries such as Iran crave fashionably tight jeans and trendy low-cut dresses just as much as their counterparts in the West. At least that is the bet being made by some international fashion brands eager to penetrate markets with conservative dress codes.

Mango, a Spanish multinational selling ready-to-wear couture for women, is one of the companies betting that women everywhere want to look fashionable. 

The chain, which is endorsed by Spanish megastar Penelope Cruz, recently declared that it would open a store in the heart of Tehran before the end of the year, according to the brand’s website.

It won't be the first. Benetton, the Italian retailer, is already in Tehran.

The bombs and sectarian bloodshed may have subsided in most of Iraq, but Iraqis have another enemy to fight: fat. Take the case of Haider Kareem Said, a sweet-faced, cheerful 25-year-old who ballooned to 495 pounds in the past five years.

Like a lot of Iraqis, Said says years of curfews and the danger of being hit by a bomb, killed by sectarian death squads, kidnapped, or caught in cross-fire kept him inside. He closed his photographic supply shop and spent most of his time watching TV and eating his mother's delicious meals. But hope is on the horizon for some Iraqis in the form of gastric band surgery currently being performed in Iraq. Dr. Ramiz S. Mukhtar at Baghdad's St. Raphael Hospital says he is the only Iraqi surgeon doing such operations, and business has been brisk since he began the surgery about 2 1/2 years ago.

The premise is simple: Mukhtar implants a band around a patient's stomach, shrinking it so that the person can eat only a tiny amount. If you eat too much, you get sick. Over months, the patient should lose weight slowly and steadily -- the best way to keep it off permanently, said Mukhtar, who earns about $4,000 per operation.

Updated obesity statistics are hard to come by here, but all you have to do is walk down the street to see that Iraqis are not an overwhelmingly svelte bunch. The traditional dishdashas worn by many men and the long abayas covering many of the women can't hide the big bellies and broad bodies here. It's not as bad as in the United States, but a 2006 survey by the World Health Organization estimated that 26% of men over 25 years and 38% of women of the same age in Iraq were obese.

Said said he tried dieting, but nothing worked. Then, a friend told him about Mukhtar's surgery, and in August he had the operation. The day of the surgery, Said sat patiently in a hospital room waiting his turn on the operating table, surrounded by friends and talking about his decision to take this drastic step.

"I've been thinking about it for the past year," he said. "I was getting very tired. My movements were limited. I was frustrated. I was also embarrassed to be so fat."

His 20-year-old brother, Mohammed, chimed in. "Of course diet and exercise are the best way to lose weight, but we lost hope," he said of Haider's situation. "We realized this is the only way out."

Unlike most overweight Americans, for whom fat is a sensitive issue, Iraqis with weight problems are more open about it. Said, for instance, jokes that people would stare at him "as if I were Saddam Hussein," the ousted Iraqi dictator, when he walked down the street.  He doesn't claim to be the victim of bad genes or a mysterious malady that causes weight gain. "I don't exercise and I love food," he says when asked how he got so big.

His friends concurred and listed Said's favorite things: honey-soaked baclava, fish, soda pop and pacha, an Iraqi dish made of the head of a sheep.   

The next day, Said went home to his family's comfortable house in a middle-class neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. Even with an IV still stuck in his wrist and pain in his abdomen, he was unfailingly polite to the stream of visitors. He heaved himself up from his chair to shake each person's hand and said he looked forward to the future. "Hopefully this is the start of a new life," he said, smiling.

His uncle, Jabar Said, sat nearby and admitted that he also had gotten fat during the war and that his sons had gained weight from inactivity and overeating. He hopes to diet his extra pounds away, but he had no qualms about his nephew going the surgical route to lose weight.

"It was essential," he said. "He is a young man. He was suffering."

The elder Said said they would have done the operation long ago had Baghdad's security situation been better, but it is only in recent months that traveling across the city has been a relatively safe thing. He said the fall of the Hussein regime, which ushered in satellite TV to a country once allowed to watch only state-run programs, has woken Iraqis up to the body-consciousness of the rest of the world.

This has made them more eager to stay in shape and lose weight, he said. Ironically, it also has added to their weight problems by encouraging them to loaf on their sofas, glued to wide-screen TVs watching the scores of international channels now available. In fact, the Said family living room boasts two TVs, one of which was showing Olympic highlights the day Haider came home.

Dr. Mukhtar said it will be several months to a year before Haider reaches his optimal weight. Asked if he plans to change his life and start exercising, Said laughed and said no. "If I wanted to exercise, I would not be doing this operation," he said.

The doctor disagreed. He said once his patients get slim, they will do anything to stay slim.

"You will see," he said knowingly. "I know them very well."

-- Tina Susman in Baghdad

Photos: Top, Haider Kareem Said awaits his gastric banding surgery at a Baghdad hospital, with his brother, Mohammed, by his side. Credit: Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times. Bottom, Dr. Ramiz S. Mukhtar, who says he is the only surgeon in Iraq performing gastric banding operations, uses a plastic stomach model to demonstrate how the surgery works. Credit: Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times

Summer in Iraq brings unbearable heat, increased need for water, and death and illness suffered by people depending on contaminated water in a country blessed with rivers but unable to properly treat what comes out of them.

All you have to do is turn on a tap and watch the brown-tinted liquid pour out to see the problem.

The latest grim update comes from Hillah, the capital of Babil province south of Baghdad, where health officials have begun using loudspeakers to urge people not to eat ice cream or juice from vendors because it might be made with dirty water. Dr. Ahmed Ajrash, the deputy director of Babil's health directorate, said today that two people had died of confirmed cases of cholera in Babil.

There are 10 suspicious cases, not yet confirmed as the water-borne disease. In Hashimiya, about 18 miles south of Hillah, medical officials say they have seen 250 cases of severe watery diarrhea, some of which may turn out to be cholera. Dozens more suspected cholera cases have turned up in other parts of the country.

The problem raises the question: How can a country with two major rivers -- the Tigris and the Euphrates -- not have sufficient clean water for its people? The problem stems from Iraq's aging water treatment facilities, which were damaged or destroyed during the war and have yet to be replaced or repaired.

The United States has blamed much of the problem on security concerns. Violence has made it difficult for workers to complete many water projects, and those that have been finished fall victim to sabotage, they say.

Iraqi officials say much of the problem lies with the U.S. government and military, and with international aid organizations. They say the water treatment plants, pumping stations or other facilities intended to provide potable water are being handed over to Iraqi management who do not have adequate training to ensure the projects keep working.

A U.S. oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction, says after projects are completed, there is no guarantee they'll be up to standards. The problems range from shoddy workmanship of some projects to mishandling of others once they are handed off to Iraqis to manage. An April report by the agency surveyed 17 projects across Iraq and said 13 had deficiencies, ranging from minor workmanship details to major construction faults.

Babil Gov. Salem Meslemawi said more than 30 projects in his province were not operating as needed to pump water from the river, treat it and get it to the people.

The U.S. military says it is aware of the problems. In June, U.S. forces began setting up temporary water purification units at three military posts in Baghdad's Sadr City, a mainly poor, densely populated district. Many Iraqis, though, have taken matters into their own hands by simply gouging holes into the ground and drawing water illegally from pipes into their homes and offices.

--Times correspondents

Photos: Two men dig a personal well outside their Baghdad business. Credit: Saad Khalaf / Los Angeles Times.

Sometimes, Baghdad's Green Zone, the walled-off axis of American and Iraqi power, is akin to a spy novel. Concertina wire, endless soot-stained gray concrete walls, the speeding convoys of armored vehicles give the enclave a conspiratorial atmosphere. According to legend, key words like Al Qaeda or the Mahdi Army in a phone conversation ensure that your call will be monitored by some intelligence agency somewhere. On one occasion, a western official cautioned that a U.S. advisor to an Iraqi minister wasn’t advising his client, but spying on him.

The latest episode in Baghdad’s annals of cloak-and-dagger escapades came Friday with a Washington Post report that the U.S. government had been spying on Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The information comes from a new book, "The War Within: A Secret White House History, 2006-2008," by famed journalist and Washington insider Bob Woodward. “We know everything he [Maliki] says,” one source bragged to Woodward, according to the Post.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, finally made his mea culpa.

“It was an accident and a sad and painful mistake that happens ... everywhere, around the world and even within one army.”

The head of the militant group was explaining for the first time why Hezbollah fighters fired last week at a Lebanese army helicopter, killing a military officer, in an incident that came as a shock to the Lebanese.

According to Nasrallah, there isn’t any underlying agenda behind what happened, no messages to the Israelis, no messages to the Lebanese army. Simply, a young fighter, who is barely 20, was unable to identify the army helicopter and so shot at it, Nasrallah said in a televised speech aired Thursday at a social event in southern Lebanon.   

The leader of the militant group described the shooter as an “honorable” resistance fighter who asked that he be turned in to the military police:

That was his own wish. He told us that there is nothing he would do to embarrass the resistance; after all, he added, I joined the resistance to defend the country and be martyred.

Lost amid news coverage of other speeches at Thursday night's finale of the Republican National Convention was a tribute to Marine Maj. Megan McClung, who was killed in December 2006 by a roadside bomb in Ramadi.

McClung, who grew up in Mission Viejo and graduated from the Naval Academy, was a public affairs officer assigned to escort reporters around Anbar province. She was the first female Marine officer killed in combat.

"I tell you about Megan because it is important that we remember the sacrifices that our brave men and women are making every day,"  retired Marine Lt. Gen. Carol Mutter told the GOP gathering.

McClung was proud to serve her country and "accepted the risk," Mutter said.

The Women Marines Assn. and the McClung family will soon award the first annual Maj. Megan McClung memorial scholarship.

Here's a link to The Times' obituary on Megan McClung.

-- Tony Perry, in San Diego

Photo: Maj. Megan McClung. Credit: Associated Press

It was designed to be a diplomatic success for both countries. Syria received a pat on the back for what was described as its peace efforts in the Middle East, and France tried to shine as a major Western force playing a key mediating role between Arabs and Israelis. 

The celebrated event was a summit that brought together French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, as well as Qatar’s emir and Turkey’s prime minister.

The goal behind the summit was to reach a breakthrough between Israel and Syria, according to the website of Arab satellite-TV channel Al Jazeera. But beneath the high-minded talk, crass business interests were also involved. More on that below.

Regarding peace, Assad revealed that his country had presented, through Turkey, a six-point proposal to Israel:

We are awaiting for Israel's response to six points that we have submitted through Turkey. ... Our response would be positive, paving the way for direct talks after a new U.S. administration -- that believes in the peace process -- takes office. ... We are also waiting for the Israeli election to be assured that a new prime minister would be on the same track as [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and be ready to completely withdraw from the occupied land in order to achieve peace.

The stale-smelling room where U.S. and Iraqi officials hold most press conferences is not normally stuffed with giddy reporters, but the ones who gathered there Wednesday to hear that Brazilian Jorvan Vieira was coming back to coach Iraq's national soccer team made no attempt to hide their excitement.

Iraq is mad for soccer, especially in light of the country's unexpected victory in July 2007 at the Asian Cup under Vieira's guidance. In the midst of some of their country's most violent days, and as Iraq's political leaders showed no signs of working through the sectarian distrust crippling the country, the ethnically and religiously mixed team beat Saudi Arabia, 1-0, to claim the cup.

Tens of thousands of fans poured into the streets of Baghdad in celebrations that lasted well after dark -- a novelty in the violent capital. 

Vieira became a hero to Iraqis, but he stepped down after the event. Two subsequent coaches, a Norwegian and an Iraqi, failed to lead the team to success in World Cup qualifying matches. The Iraqi, Adnan Hamad, stepped down in June after a loss to Qatar ended Iraq's hopes of making the World Cup finals in 2010. It would have been the country's first time playing in the World Cup since 1986.